Grand Designer

Released: Apr 13, 2016
Platforms: Windows
Last updated: 05 Sep 2026, 04:46 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

24 Oct 2018Developer post
Features pack DLC is available
Hi everyone, This DLC adds 40+ features resources to build planets. Those features are either structures, cities, buildings, hell holes, lava pits, rock formations that you can spawn on the surface of the planets to enrich them. You will have also access to the substance designer
23 Oct 2018Developer post
V 1.2.0 Major Update
The release of this update took a lot longer than expected, but finally ... it's here ... and it's free for all previous users This major update fixes the following bugs: Interface - Fixes incorrect tooltips Interface - In the minimap, the baked in height water level is fixed. In
The release of this update took a lot longer than expected, but finally ... it's here ... and it's free for all previous users
This major update fixes the following bugs:

Interface - Fixes incorrect tooltips
Interface - In the minimap, the baked in height water level is fixed.
Interface - Dropdowns are improved.
Interface - Navigation was sometimes broken when in no UI mode (Tab) : fixed.
Interface - Reset values not always consistent : fixed.
Generator - Input map strange behavior when the map was not in the media directory fixed.
And adds the following features :

Interface - The water level is visible in the minimap now.
Interface - Noise models/presets are directly available now using the Models button directly on the Noise title section. This allows quick tests. You cannot add new presets yourself.
Interface - New open and save dialogs, using the latest windows forms.
Interface - Hot : Sliders are much more accurate. If you press Shift while dragging, 10x more accurate, Ctrl, 100x more accurate, Ctrl+Shift, 1000x more accurate. The cursor automatically wrap around the screen.
Interface - Hot : You can enter out of range values in the text box next to the sliders. Use at your own risk as out of range values can generate unexpected behaviors.
Interface - The planet is hidden while computing the HD version, reducing rendering time.
Interface - Hot : some tabs can be displayed in Solo mode, allowing precise tuning by removing the influence of the other layers (use the Solo toggle button on the right of the tabs).
Interface - You can now display Directional AO and Cities maps in the debug mode bar (left of the viewport)
Interface - Super Hot : Color ramps are now editable, using as many colors are you want, adding more flexibility to the coloring process. All previous ramps will be automatically converted to the new system, so you can improve them afterward.
Interface - Some color ramps uses new the alpha channel, like the clouds, the rings, ice, details … etc.
Interface - New progressive rendering, like the previous one, change this setting in Options/Miscellaneous.
Interface - Enforce viewport size before doing snapshots or large snapshots (Viewport menu). Noise is now split in 2 sliders: noise layers combination type and noise type. Some noise layers combination are available only for a selection of noise types, the unavailable types are greyed out.
Generator - New noise layers combination modes has been added.
Generator - New noise type (Flat Voronoi) has been added.
Generator - Intermediate buffers use a more accurate format (16 bits between 0.0 and 1.0) instead of a half precision (16 bits too but for a much larger range)
Generator - New blending modes for details and details 2, it’s quite similar to add+cut range, just simpler to use : ▪ Fill valleys : Using the Level slider, you can add relief only under a given limit ▪ Fill peaks : Using the Level slider, you can add relief only above a given limit
Generator - Directional AO generation and rendering. This allows much better contact shadows on the planet. The generation parameters are in the ‘Other’ tab, the rendering parameters are in the lighting section of the Shader tab (Local shadows).
Generator - Vegetation can be controlled by heat.
Generator - Roughness by slope added in relief tab.
Generator - Improved noise distortion using an intensity slider and a roughness (scale) slider.
Generator - Hot : Features tab has been added. ▪ Enable spawning heightmap brushes on the planet to add building, cities, special mountains and so on. ▪ Some samples are provided with the basic version of Grand Designer, you can buy an extra DLC for more advanced and complete feature set, including some substance designer files allowing you to easily create new ones. ▪ You can create your own features : • Red channel = heightmap • Green channel = color map • Blue channel = self-emissive map • Alpha channel = shape cutout • Use power of 2 size like 1024x1024, 2048x2048 … etc.
Generator - Hot : Square textures can be generated now, reducing by 2 the size of your planet and keeping the same details density by making it mirrored. You can change that by checking the Use square format in options->Output. This is working also for partial planets and backgrounds!
Generator - Heightmaps (relief base) and features maps can be either in sRGB or in linear space.
Generator - New color ramp influence for relief, details and secondary details, allowing richer colors.
Generator - Relief, details and secondary details can be limited to a portion of the planet, based on the distance to the equator. This is also influenced by the tilt axis and equator offset parameters in the weather tab.
Rendering - The ring has been split in 2 (front & back) for better blending with planets with atmosphere.
Rendering - The atmosphere is now directly affected by the color and intensity of the sun.
Rendering - Rings are now perfectly rounds and are not depending on the geometry density, UV are generated analytically.
Rendering - Hot : Atmosphere rendering has been dramatically improved : ▪ Volumetric shadows are now supported. ▪ Clouds can be rendered • As before (on the ground) • As a plane • AS a volume ▪ Different levels of quality
Rendering - Shadow dithering (you can tune it in Shader->Lighting->Dithering). Cool results when doing large snapshots.
Rendering - Textures dithering (in Shader->Texture->Dithering)
Rendering - Improved quality for snapshot with alpha (better alpha extraction). Directional AO can be exported in an RGBA texture.
Export - Geometry export has been fixed and allows now much bigger/denser planets with more than 65k vertices.
Export - New simplification/decimation algorithm, better, faster.
Export - Hot : Magicavoxel export. This is still experimental, but it’s working fine so far. ▪ You have to export a partial planet (coverage percentage <1) ▪ You can define the height of the area you are exporting (1=maximum size for a single bloc in magicaVoxel = 126 voxels) ▪ The area defines the number of 126x126x126 blocks you want for the surface. ▪ You can also export the cloud layer.
There is a new trailer where you can see some of these features in action : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZS5r3m0zvc
As well as 4 new tutorials to see how to use them :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIyTLk3eyvE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HmAMw-e72s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br4ApQSJKXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH0nGdf9YLY
I hope you'll enjoy all of these new features!
Thanks again for your support! You're the bests!
Original post
08 May 2017Developer post
New tutorials
Hi guys, There are 3 new tutorials available online on planet creation: - 2 for earth-like planets - 1 for asteroids They are part of this new playlist : You can also check Grand Designer artworks I've posted on artsation with some explanations on how they were made. You can find
08 May 2017Developer post
New tutorials
Hi guys, There are 3 new tutorials available online on planet creation: - 2 for earth-like planets - 1 for asteroids They are part of this new playlist : You can also check Grand Designer artworks I've posted on artsation with some explanations on how they were made. You can find
24 Apr 2017Developer post
V 1.1.0 Major Update
This major update fixes the following bugs: Export - Improved color accuracy in 24bits and 48bits background export. Tonemapping is now correctly applied. Rendering - Spikes at poles are now fixed. Interface - Compatibility issues with Wacom tablets and 3DConnexion mouse is now f
This major update fixes the following bugs:

Export - Improved color accuracy in 24bits and 48bits background export. Tonemapping is now correctly applied.
Rendering - Spikes at poles are now fixed.
Interface - Compatibility issues with Wacom tablets and 3DConnexion mouse is now fixed.
Interface - Some tooltips has been fixed with the right text (it was a bit messed up).
Interface - Clouds influence on roughness is now hidden in roughness layer mode.
And adds the following features (Fasten your seatbelt) :

Rendering - Improved rings rendering, shadows are transparent, allowing intensity variations. Surface acne is removed from the ring surface.
Rendering - Banding effects in shadows has been reduced thanks to the introduction of noise.
Rendering - Banding effect removed in bloom and soft gradients by adding dithering in the tone mapping pass.
Rendering - Purkinje effect added in the post process.
Rendering - A partial background can be generated, allowing a higher texture resolution focused on the screen. This allows very high quality backgrounds to be generated in one specific direction.
Rendering - A secondary fill light can be defined to break the blackness of the dark side of the planet.
Planet generator - New exponentialy distributed noise types (use ramp to modify values distribution)
Planet generator - Advanced color correction of the albedo has been added (new tab).
Planet generator - A whole new layer of micro craters has been added (new tab), allowing the generation of small and numerous craters over the surface of planet. Many options are available like craters count, size, age, regularity, coloring …
Planet generator - Improved craters and details coloring … no more overlap of the two zones.
Planet generator - Two new blending modes for details (Alpha and reflect).
Planet generator - High frequencies enhancement section added in Relief base tab. This acts like a sharpen filter of the height map focused on the high frequencies.
Planet generator - Secondary roads added in the cities generation (scale and intensity).
Planet generator - Second layer of details added (new tab), allowing a richer, improved generation of planets. Each detail layer can have its own coloring parameters.
Planet generator - Roughness can be modulated on both detail layers, craters and micro craters.
Planet generator - Details (details & details2 layers) and micro craters can be injected in the water layer to allow rivers-like generation and richer self-emissive planets (lavas for instance).
Planet generator - Details coloring can be balanced between height, slope and ambient occlusion.
Background generator - Distortion depth slider added, allowing fine tuning of the distortion effect.
Background generator - Noise slider added in the nebulae raycast, breaking the banding effect.
Background generator - Advanced nebulae rendering by adding a masking effect on the background. 4 blending mode has been added and many new sliders.
Background generator - Latitude masking added, allowing horizontal nebulae (Milky Way like).
Animation - Revolution of planet can be done on any axis now and the revolution time can be adjusted.
Export/Import - Checkboxes to allow horizontal and vertical flips of the textures.
Export/Import - Input files can be sharpened by using negative blur values.
Export/Import - Height values can be exported in R8G8 or R5G5B5 formats.
Export/Import - Export of heat and moisture maps (PRO dlc only)
Export/Import - Clouds normal are exported.
Export/Import - Supersized screenshots quality has been dramatically improved with higher textures quality, artefacts removal, better rings and background rendering.
Export/Import - Supersized screenshots can go up to 14x viewport size (PRO dlc only)
Export/Import - Planet masks can be exported in supersized screenshots, allowing you to do offline compositing of several planets
Export/Import - Background can be exported with alpha channel now, using nebulae density as alpha or computing alpha from colors.
Export/Import - Planet tessellation has been improved when doing screenshots (or supersized screenshots).
Interface - F1 opens the help file now.
Interface - Stars layer rendering can be toggled.
Interface - Reorganization of the channels dropdown menus.
Interface - Post effects can be toggled individually.
Interface - A default camera, planet and light orientation can be stored with any planets. These scene presets can be stored and recalled at any time. These are used automatically on preset reload.
Interface - An invert ramp button has been added to the color ramp editor.
Interface - Some sliders range has been extended/fixed.
There is a new trailer where you can see some of these features in action : https://youtu.be/v2V2ybY721o
As well as a new tutorial to see how to use them : https://youtu.be/f72CFIzhpAM
I hope you'll enjoy these new features!
Thanks again for your support! You're the bests!
Original post
24 Apr 2017Developer post
V 1.1.0 Major Update
This major update fixes the following bugs: Export - Improved color accuracy in 24bits and 48bits background export. Tonemapping is now correctly applied. Rendering - Spikes at poles are now fixed. Interface - Compatibility issues with Wacom tablets and 3DConnexion mouse is now f
This major update fixes the following bugs:

Export - Improved color accuracy in 24bits and 48bits background export. Tonemapping is now correctly applied.
Rendering - Spikes at poles are now fixed.
Interface - Compatibility issues with Wacom tablets and 3DConnexion mouse is now fixed.
Interface - Some tooltips has been fixed with the right text (it was a bit messed up).
Interface - Clouds influence on roughness is now hidden in roughness layer mode.
And adds the following features (Fasten your seatbelt) :

Rendering - Improved rings rendering, shadows are transparent, allowing intensity variations. Surface acne is removed from the ring surface.
Rendering - Banding effects in shadows has been reduced thanks to the introduction of noise.
Rendering - Banding effect removed in bloom and soft gradients by adding dithering in the tone mapping pass.
Rendering - Purkinje effect added in the post process.
Rendering - A partial background can be generated, allowing a higher texture resolution focused on the screen. This allows very high quality backgrounds to be generated in one specific direction.
Rendering - A secondary fill light can be defined to break the blackness of the dark side of the planet.
Planet generator - New exponentialy distributed noise types (use ramp to modify values distribution)
Planet generator - Advanced color correction of the albedo has been added (new tab).
Planet generator - A whole new layer of micro craters has been added (new tab), allowing the generation of small and numerous craters over the surface of planet. Many options are available like craters count, size, age, regularity, coloring …
Planet generator - Improved craters and details coloring … no more overlap of the two zones.
Planet generator - Two new blending modes for details (Alpha and reflect).
Planet generator - High frequencies enhancement section added in Relief base tab. This acts like a sharpen filter of the height map focused on the high frequencies.
Planet generator - Secondary roads added in the cities generation (scale and intensity).
Planet generator - Second layer of details added (new tab), allowing a richer, improved generation of planets. Each detail layer can have its own coloring parameters.
Planet generator - Roughness can be modulated on both detail layers, craters and micro craters.
Planet generator - Details (details & details2 layers) and micro craters can be injected in the water layer to allow rivers-like generation and richer self-emissive planets (lavas for instance).
Planet generator - Details coloring can be balanced between height, slope and ambient occlusion.
Background generator - Distortion depth slider added, allowing fine tuning of the distortion effect.
Background generator - Noise slider added in the nebulae raycast, breaking the banding effect.
Background generator - Advanced nebulae rendering by adding a masking effect on the background. 4 blending mode has been added and many new sliders.
Background generator - Latitude masking added, allowing horizontal nebulae (Milky Way like).
Animation - Revolution of planet can be done on any axis now and the revolution time can be adjusted.
Export/Import - Checkboxes to allow horizontal and vertical flips of the textures.
Export/Import - Input files can be sharpened by using negative blur values.
Export/Import - Height values can be exported in R8G8 or R5G5B5 formats.
Export/Import - Export of heat and moisture maps (PRO dlc only)
Export/Import - Clouds normal are exported.
Export/Import - Supersized screenshots quality has been dramatically improved with higher textures quality, artefacts removal, better rings and background rendering.
Export/Import - Supersized screenshots can go up to 14x viewport size (PRO dlc only)
Export/Import - Planet masks can be exported in supersized screenshots, allowing you to do offline compositing of several planets
Export/Import - Background can be exported with alpha channel now, using nebulae density as alpha or computing alpha from colors.
Export/Import - Planet tessellation has been improved when doing screenshots (or supersized screenshots).
Interface - F1 opens the help file now.
Interface - Stars layer rendering can be toggled.
Interface - Reorganization of the channels dropdown menus.
Interface - Post effects can be toggled individually.
Interface - A default camera, planet and light orientation can be stored with any planets. These scene presets can be stored and recalled at any time. These are used automatically on preset reload.
Interface - An invert ramp button has been added to the color ramp editor.
Interface - Some sliders range has been extended/fixed.
There is a new trailer where you can see some of these features in action : https://youtu.be/v2V2ybY721o
As well as a new tutorial to see how to use them : https://youtu.be/f72CFIzhpAM
I hope you'll enjoy these new features!
Thanks again for your support! You're the bests!
Original post
24 Oct 2016Developer post
V 1.0.8 Update
This update fixes the following bugs : Export - Snapshot with alpha was not returning completely translucent color as background. Fixed Export - Decimated planets had hard edges on the UV seam. Fixed Rendering - Clouds shadows are now casted on cities. Interface - The random rang
This update fixes the following bugs :

Export - Snapshot with alpha was not returning completely translucent color as background. Fixed
Export - Decimated planets had hard edges on the UV seam. Fixed
Rendering - Clouds shadows are now casted on cities.
Interface - The random range of the Weather/Global/Random scale has been increased to 50 and the slider is now a logarithmic one.
Interface - Integer slider is now editable like all other ones (Craters count)
Interface - The min/max range for the cities altitude has been improved.
Interface - Relief base input textures are now working properly, even if the textures are not in the media directory.
And adds the following features:

Interface - There is now a cloud offset allowing you to place the cloud layer where you want for snapshots.
Interface - There is now a gimbal lock which will force rotations of the planet and the background to occur only around the planet axis. It’s the new icon above the terrain preview window on the bottom of the screen.
Interface - The special effects presets/values are now kept between sessions.
Interface - Two new sliders allow the tuning of the smoothness of the min and max altitude for cities.
Thank you to all the people who had reported a problem or proposed an improvement.
I'd like also to announce that Grand Designer has been nominated for the UnityAwards 2016 in the Non-Game category and in the global category. I'd be glad if you could vote for it over here : https://unity3d.com/awards/2016
Thanks again for your support!
Original post
24 Oct 2016Developer post
V 1.0.8 Update
This update fixes the following bugs : Export - Snapshot with alpha was not returning completely translucent color as background. Fixed Export - Decimated planets had hard edges on the UV seam. Fixed Rendering - Clouds shadows are now casted on cities. Interface - The random rang
This update fixes the following bugs :

Export - Snapshot with alpha was not returning completely translucent color as background. Fixed
Export - Decimated planets had hard edges on the UV seam. Fixed
Rendering - Clouds shadows are now casted on cities.
Interface - The random range of the Weather/Global/Random scale has been increased to 50 and the slider is now a logarithmic one.
Interface - Integer slider is now editable like all other ones (Craters count)
Interface - The min/max range for the cities altitude has been improved.
Interface - Relief base input textures are now working properly, even if the textures are not in the media directory.
And adds the following features:

Interface - There is now a cloud offset allowing you to place the cloud layer where you want for snapshots.
Interface - There is now a gimbal lock which will force rotations of the planet and the background to occur only around the planet axis. It’s the new icon above the terrain preview window on the bottom of the screen.
Interface - The special effects presets/values are now kept between sessions.
Interface - Two new sliders allow the tuning of the smoothness of the min and max altitude for cities.
Thank you to all the people who had reported a problem or proposed an improvement.
I'd like also to announce that Grand Designer has been nominated for the UnityAwards 2016 in the Non-Game category and in the global category. I'd be glad if you could vote for it over here : https://unity3d.com/awards/2016
Thanks again for your support!
Original post
08 Jul 2016Developer post
V 1.0.7 Update
This update fixes the following bug: VRAM usage computation was wrong in 16K/high precision And add the following features: Interface - Goldlilock changed to CHZ (Circumstellar habitable zone) Interface - The heat map is now displayed with slices, which is more readable. Interfac
This update fixes the following bug:

VRAM usage computation was wrong in 16K/high precision
And add the following features:

Interface - Goldlilock changed to CHZ (Circumstellar habitable zone)
Interface - The heat map is now displayed with slices, which is more readable.
Interface - The planet size and max altitude are now displayed as references. The planet radius is defined in the shaders parameters, like the displacement.
Interface - Dropdowns are now scrollable, allowing more presets available per file.
Interface - Some sliders have now a logarithmic scale to allow a finer tuning of the values (noise scale for instance).
Interface - The topology map (2D and 3D) on the bottom of the screen is now draggable (left-right and up-down) and the right mouse buttons allows the control of the zoom.
Interface - You can now do snapshots with alpha, but this is limited to viewport size. Go to Edit>Snapshot with alpha. You can also assign that role to the camera icon (Edit>Options>Output>Snapshot icon)
Export/Import - 8bits and 16bits greyscale export is now supported. Just change your preset in Edit>Options>Channels>Check the ‘grey’ checkboxes you want.
Export/Import - 16bits greyscale and 48 bits RGB can be imported as heightmaps in Relief>Relief base. This removes the slices/layers you have with 8bits greyscale/24bits RGB.
Planet generator - Internal accuracy of 32bits is available to everyone now, not only the Pro users as before. This will also help to get rid of slices/layers you can have even with 16bits greyscale heightmaps.
Planet generator - A moisture influence slider has been added to the desert to avoid having the desertic zones going too close to the coastlines.
Original post
08 Jul 2016Developer post
V 1.0.7 Update
This update fixes the following bug: VRAM usage computation was wrong in 16K/high precision And add the following features: Interface - Goldlilock changed to CHZ (Circumstellar habitable zone) Interface - The heat map is now displayed with slices, which is more readable. Interfac
This update fixes the following bug:

VRAM usage computation was wrong in 16K/high precision
And add the following features:

Interface - Goldlilock changed to CHZ (Circumstellar habitable zone)
Interface - The heat map is now displayed with slices, which is more readable.
Interface - The planet size and max altitude are now displayed as references. The planet radius is defined in the shaders parameters, like the displacement.
Interface - Dropdowns are now scrollable, allowing more presets available per file.
Interface - Some sliders have now a logarithmic scale to allow a finer tuning of the values (noise scale for instance).
Interface - The topology map (2D and 3D) on the bottom of the screen is now draggable (left-right and up-down) and the right mouse buttons allows the control of the zoom.
Interface - You can now do snapshots with alpha, but this is limited to viewport size. Go to Edit>Snapshot with alpha. You can also assign that role to the camera icon (Edit>Options>Output>Snapshot icon)
Export/Import - 8bits and 16bits greyscale export is now supported. Just change your preset in Edit>Options>Channels>Check the ‘grey’ checkboxes you want.
Export/Import - 16bits greyscale and 48 bits RGB can be imported as heightmaps in Relief>Relief base. This removes the slices/layers you have with 8bits greyscale/24bits RGB.
Planet generator - Internal accuracy of 32bits is available to everyone now, not only the Pro users as before. This will also help to get rid of slices/layers you can have even with 16bits greyscale heightmaps.
Planet generator - A moisture influence slider has been added to the desert to avoid having the desertic zones going too close to the coastlines.
Original post
31 May 2016Developer post
New tutorial videos online
Hi guys, I've just added 4 new videos in the tutorial playlist and a video of the creation of a mars-like planet. Enjoy!
31 May 2016Developer post
New tutorial videos online
Hi guys, I've just added 4 new videos in the tutorial playlist and a video of the creation of a mars-like planet. Enjoy!
22 Apr 2016Developer post
V 1.0.6 Update
This update fixes the following bugs : Squares appearing in HD render due to some problems with the moisture propagation. Fixed now. Export stuck at 75% fixed. And add some new features : Interface : Turnaround button in the mixer which allows an easy full rotation movie of a pla
This update fixes the following bugs :

Squares appearing in HD render due to some problems with the moisture propagation. Fixed now.
Export stuck at 75% fixed.
And add some new features :

Interface : Turnaround button in the mixer which allows an easy full rotation movie of a planet.
Interface : Seeds modifier in the randomizer. You can now enforce the regeneration of similar planets by changing just the seeds.
Interface : Batch generation in the randomizer. You can create and export several variations of a planets directly in the randomizer. Very useful if you want to generate content quickly.
Interface : Display the value of the FOV (field of view) in the console when you change it.
Interface : Ask for confirmation if you want to generate a HD planet that is already HD.
Interface : New shortcuts : F8 = reset planet position, F5-F6-F7 = toggle between lightmodes.
Interface : Light lock. You can enforce the background and/or the sun to stick with the planet thanks to new light modes (4th icon in the toolbar).
Interface : Autosave, all your parameters are saved every 5 minutes. You can reload the last autosave in the menu File->Load autosave.
Planet generator : Adjust roughness from sediment and vegetation level.
3 New tutorials are available : movie making, unity export and unreal export.
Original post
22 Apr 2016Developer post
V 1.0.6 Update
This update fixes the following bugs : Squares appearing in HD render due to some problems with the moisture propagation. Fixed now. Export stuck at 75% fixed. And add some new features : Interface : Turnaround button in the mixer which allows an easy full rotation movie of a pla
This update fixes the following bugs :

Squares appearing in HD render due to some problems with the moisture propagation. Fixed now.
Export stuck at 75% fixed.
And add some new features :

Interface : Turnaround button in the mixer which allows an easy full rotation movie of a planet.
Interface : Seeds modifier in the randomizer. You can now enforce the regeneration of similar planets by changing just the seeds.
Interface : Batch generation in the randomizer. You can create and export several variations of a planets directly in the randomizer. Very useful if you want to generate content quickly.
Interface : Display the value of the FOV (field of view) in the console when you change it.
Interface : Ask for confirmation if you want to generate a HD planet that is already HD.
Interface : New shortcuts : F8 = reset planet position, F5-F6-F7 = toggle between lightmodes.
Interface : Light lock. You can enforce the background and/or the sun to stick with the planet thanks to new light modes (4th icon in the toolbar).
Interface : Autosave, all your parameters are saved every 5 minutes. You can reload the last autosave in the menu File->Load autosave.
Planet generator : Adjust roughness from sediment and vegetation level.
3 New tutorials are available : movie making, unity export and unreal export.
Original post
13 Apr 2016Developer post
V1.0.5 is out
Hi everyone, The wait is over, the V1 is finally out of the beta and Grand Designer is out of the early access. I hope that you'll enjoy the new version and the new features! Don't forget to check the tutorials, I will add new ones regularly as soon as possible to cover as much f
13 Apr 2016Developer post
V1.0.5 is out
Hi everyone, The wait is over, the V1 is finally out of the beta and Grand Designer is out of the early access. I hope that you'll enjoy the new version and the new features! Don't forget to check the tutorials, I will add new ones regularly as soon as possible to cover as much f
13 Aug 2015Developer post
Update 0.0.7 is online
Here is the content of this massive update. Fixes : Engine : - Progressive update of the clouds layer. The previous revisions was taking a lot of time to render some clouds under certain conditions and this solves the problem. Interface : - Main window screen placement can be con
Here is the content of this massive update.
Fixes :

Engine : - Progressive update of the clouds layer. The previous revisions was taking a lot of time to render some clouds under certain conditions and this solves the problem.
Interface : - Main window screen placement can be configured in the options. - Roughness of the water is now in the water tab and is now correctly exported (it was a constant before). - Reset of values was not working after loading a preset, it’s fixed now. - Channel water*water alpha is also available on standard version, not only pro. This allows the export of an emissive map for lava planets. - Mousewheel sensitivity is now saved correctly. - Color presets delete are saved directly now. - Planet manipulation (drag/zoom …) works only if the mouse is in the work/viewport area. - Mousewheel speed increased in the scrollviews (was unusable before).
Presets : - Many of the provided presets has been updated.
New features :

Unity sample - new custom materials, easier to tune, - self emitting water - separate clouds layer - separate clouds layer with atmosphere - translucent rings - cutout rings (cast and receive shadows) - a scene containing many variations using one texture
Unreal sample : - self emitting water - displacement - separate clouds layer - merged animated clouds layer - separate atmosphere layer - translucent rings - cutout rings (cast and receive shadows) - a scene containing many variations using one texture set
Engine : - The heightmap is computed only when necessary and not for all parameters changes, which result in faster update. - Improved craters generation - Improved vegetation system - Improved ice caps
Interface : - The rendering time is displayed in preview mode and in rendering mode. - Water sharpness parameter has been added. - Control of the curvature thickness added. - You can now import an external height map. - Much better and more realistic simulation of moisture level. Extra parameters has been exposed in the ‘Other’ tab. - Adjustment of 3D noise position, rotation and scale thanks to a new set of parameters in the ‘Global’ tab. This provides a very fine level adjustment for the noise and allows you to control the position of mainlands on the planet. - High definition rendering : The main interface is now locked to avoid any conflict and interruption of the rendering. You can also cancel the rendering at any time and don’t have to wait for it to finish.
Check the full release note for more details (Options->Open release notes)!
As bonus, here is a video presenting some of the new features : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJaSXZXIuRI&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy!
Original post
13 Aug 2015Developer post
Update 0.0.7 is online
Here is the content of this massive update. Fixes : Engine : - Progressive update of the clouds layer. The previous revisions was taking a lot of time to render some clouds under certain conditions and this solves the problem. Interface : - Main window screen placement can be con
Here is the content of this massive update.
Fixes :

Engine : - Progressive update of the clouds layer. The previous revisions was taking a lot of time to render some clouds under certain conditions and this solves the problem.
Interface : - Main window screen placement can be configured in the options. - Roughness of the water is now in the water tab and is now correctly exported (it was a constant before). - Reset of values was not working after loading a preset, it’s fixed now. - Channel water*water alpha is also available on standard version, not only pro. This allows the export of an emissive map for lava planets. - Mousewheel sensitivity is now saved correctly. - Color presets delete are saved directly now. - Planet manipulation (drag/zoom …) works only if the mouse is in the work/viewport area. - Mousewheel speed increased in the scrollviews (was unusable before).
Presets : - Many of the provided presets has been updated.
New features :

Unity sample - new custom materials, easier to tune, - self emitting water - separate clouds layer - separate clouds layer with atmosphere - translucent rings - cutout rings (cast and receive shadows) - a scene containing many variations using one texture
Unreal sample : - self emitting water - displacement - separate clouds layer - merged animated clouds layer - separate atmosphere layer - translucent rings - cutout rings (cast and receive shadows) - a scene containing many variations using one texture set
Engine : - The heightmap is computed only when necessary and not for all parameters changes, which result in faster update. - Improved craters generation - Improved vegetation system - Improved ice caps
Interface : - The rendering time is displayed in preview mode and in rendering mode. - Water sharpness parameter has been added. - Control of the curvature thickness added. - You can now import an external height map. - Much better and more realistic simulation of moisture level. Extra parameters has been exposed in the ‘Other’ tab. - Adjustment of 3D noise position, rotation and scale thanks to a new set of parameters in the ‘Global’ tab. This provides a very fine level adjustment for the noise and allows you to control the position of mainlands on the planet. - High definition rendering : The main interface is now locked to avoid any conflict and interruption of the rendering. You can also cancel the rendering at any time and don’t have to wait for it to finish.
Check the full release note for more details (Options->Open release notes)!
As bonus, here is a video presenting some of the new features : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJaSXZXIuRI&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy!
Original post
15 Jul 2015Developer post
Update 0.0.6 is online
The first update is online and it fixes several bugs and brings some new features: Fixes : Interface : Reset is now working with min-max sliders Interface : Change default values for ice caps (was too random) Export : Background export with TGA was broken - fixed Export : When ex
The first update is online and it fixes several bugs and brings some new features:
Fixes :

Interface : Reset is now working with min-max sliders
Interface : Change default values for ice caps (was too random)
Export : Background export with TGA was broken - fixed
Export : When exporting background, the default filename was the name of the planet preset - fixed
Export : Ring texture had the wrong resolution - fixed
Post effects : Deactivate post effects when in solo/layer mode
Planet generator : Artefacts were appearing if you update a value and the planet was turning – fixed
Configuration : Fixed a bug that prevents some options to be saved correctly.
New features :

Interface : You can now toggle the complete interface on and off with the F11 key. This allows you to take screenshots/videos without the UI.
Interface : Addition of a reset button for the current edition mode.
Interface : Addition of a button that shows release notes (in the options window).
Interface : Zoom speed is now tunable and the middle mouse button can be used to zoom too (the mouse wheel is kept as well).
Interface : Add manual input of values for sliders and min-max sliders (just click on the values to edit them – use return or enter to validate). Accuracy has been upgraded to 4 decimal numbers.
Export : Exports options for the background are now exposed. You can chose to export in RGB or RGBE, in 8bits per component or 16bits per component (pro dlc only)
Post effects : Toggle all post effects with a single button
Post effects : Addition of a sharpen post effect
Background generator : Addition of a sun tab to control visibility, sun scale, sun glow intensity, sun hue, sun saturation, light color and light intensity.
Once again, thank you for your support. I will continue to fix, update and improve the product by listening at your reports and comments.
Original post
15 Jul 2015Developer post
Update 0.0.6 is online
The first update is online and it fixes several bugs and brings some new features: Fixes : Interface : Reset is now working with min-max sliders Interface : Change default values for ice caps (was too random) Export : Background export with TGA was broken - fixed Export : When ex
The first update is online and it fixes several bugs and brings some new features:
Fixes :

Interface : Reset is now working with min-max sliders
Interface : Change default values for ice caps (was too random)
Export : Background export with TGA was broken - fixed
Export : When exporting background, the default filename was the name of the planet preset - fixed
Export : Ring texture had the wrong resolution - fixed
Post effects : Deactivate post effects when in solo/layer mode
Planet generator : Artefacts were appearing if you update a value and the planet was turning – fixed
Configuration : Fixed a bug that prevents some options to be saved correctly.
New features :

Interface : You can now toggle the complete interface on and off with the F11 key. This allows you to take screenshots/videos without the UI.
Interface : Addition of a reset button for the current edition mode.
Interface : Addition of a button that shows release notes (in the options window).
Interface : Zoom speed is now tunable and the middle mouse button can be used to zoom too (the mouse wheel is kept as well).
Interface : Add manual input of values for sliders and min-max sliders (just click on the values to edit them – use return or enter to validate). Accuracy has been upgraded to 4 decimal numbers.
Export : Exports options for the background are now exposed. You can chose to export in RGB or RGBE, in 8bits per component or 16bits per component (pro dlc only)
Post effects : Toggle all post effects with a single button
Post effects : Addition of a sharpen post effect
Background generator : Addition of a sun tab to control visibility, sun scale, sun glow intensity, sun hue, sun saturation, light color and light intensity.
Once again, thank you for your support. I will continue to fix, update and improve the product by listening at your reports and comments.
Original post